JAMES BEATTIE'S ILIAD
Homeri ilias graece et latine. Annotationes in usum serenissimi principis guilielmi augustu, ducis de cumberland, &c regio jussu scripsit atque edidit samuel clarke, s.t.p. .
Londini, [i.e. London].
Impensis Johannis & Pauli Knapton, 1754.
Second edition.
Quarto.
[8], 344; [4], 347pp, [13]. With folding engraved frontispiece maps to each volume, and terminal errata leaf to Vol. II. Contemporary gilt-tooled calf, contrasting red morocco lettering-piece. Worn, with splits to joints (boards nevertheless holding strong), bumping to corners and surface loss to boards. Three inked shelf-marks to front endpapers. James Beattie's copy, with his neat inscription to title, along with the number '221.' in red ink. A further inscription to a blank fly-leaf, signed at foot 'James Mercer', notes the intended later provenance of this book.
James Beattie's copy of the second edition of theologian, translator and philosopher Samuel Clarke's (1675- 1729) Greek and Latin edition of Homer's Iliad.
Clarke was perhaps better known for his theological work, thrown to prominence by his 1704 and 1705 Boyle lectures, but was also a gifted classicist with a strong interest in natural philosophy. His friendship with both Newton and Whiston, and indeed his translation into Latin of the former's Opticks (London, 1706), led to Clarke taking up the mantle as the arbiter of Newtonian orthodoxy following his death. In addition to a translation of Caesar's Commentaries, published in a magnificently illustrated edition of 1712, he left incomplete at his death this translation of Homer's Iliad into Latin, which was completed by his son. The first 12 books had been published in 1729 by Knapton, with the second half of the text appearing in 1732. Dibdin rather harshly judges this second complete edition of 1754, with the text in Greek and Latin presented in parallel columns, as a 'Disgraceful edit'; although a footnote clarifies that it is production of the object rather than the text itself which is criticised; high praise indeed is lavished upon the first edition, especially those in large paper format.
As the lengthy early nineteenth-century record of provenance at the front of this volume notes, this copy, once in the library of Scottish abolitionist poet and Professor of Moral Philosophy at Marischal College, Aberdeen, James Beattie (1735-1803), was left to James Mercer (1734-1804) 'by a clause in the Doctor's Will for that purpose'. Mercer, himself a poet, studied at Marischal College alongside Beattie before commencing a lengthy career in the army, and was one of Beattie's two executors. He evidently inscribed this volume in the short time between his friend's death and his own in the following year. As the inscription notes, Mercer expressed hope that 'the Honble. Frederick Douglas', his nephew, the only son of his sister Katherine and Sylvester Douglas, 1st Baron Glenbervie, would give it ‘a place in his library’. Whether this volume made it to the younger Douglas' library is unknown, but he was clearly enamoured with classical learning, publishing An Essay on Certain Points of Resemblance Between the Ancient and Modern Greeks (London, 1813).
Clarke was perhaps better known for his theological work, thrown to prominence by his 1704 and 1705 Boyle lectures, but was also a gifted classicist with a strong interest in natural philosophy. His friendship with both Newton and Whiston, and indeed his translation into Latin of the former's Opticks (London, 1706), led to Clarke taking up the mantle as the arbiter of Newtonian orthodoxy following his death. In addition to a translation of Caesar's Commentaries, published in a magnificently illustrated edition of 1712, he left incomplete at his death this translation of Homer's Iliad into Latin, which was completed by his son. The first 12 books had been published in 1729 by Knapton, with the second half of the text appearing in 1732. Dibdin rather harshly judges this second complete edition of 1754, with the text in Greek and Latin presented in parallel columns, as a 'Disgraceful edit'; although a footnote clarifies that it is production of the object rather than the text itself which is criticised; high praise indeed is lavished upon the first edition, especially those in large paper format.
As the lengthy early nineteenth-century record of provenance at the front of this volume notes, this copy, once in the library of Scottish abolitionist poet and Professor of Moral Philosophy at Marischal College, Aberdeen, James Beattie (1735-1803), was left to James Mercer (1734-1804) 'by a clause in the Doctor's Will for that purpose'. Mercer, himself a poet, studied at Marischal College alongside Beattie before commencing a lengthy career in the army, and was one of Beattie's two executors. He evidently inscribed this volume in the short time between his friend's death and his own in the following year. As the inscription notes, Mercer expressed hope that 'the Honble. Frederick Douglas', his nephew, the only son of his sister Katherine and Sylvester Douglas, 1st Baron Glenbervie, would give it ‘a place in his library’. Whether this volume made it to the younger Douglas' library is unknown, but he was clearly enamoured with classical learning, publishing An Essay on Certain Points of Resemblance Between the Ancient and Modern Greeks (London, 1813).
ESTC T36585.
£ 1,750.00
Antiquates Ref: 24874
